Etymologically
Log in

πέλεκυς

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 01:52. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pé.le.kys/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpe.le.cys/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpe.le.cys/[1]

Forms

πέλεκῠς (pélekus) m (genitive πελέκεως); third declension[1]

Etymology

Beekes treats it as Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.[2][3] Following Furnée, he compares the Hesychian βέλεκκος (bélekkos), a kind of pulse, with the Pre-Greek alternations π / β and κ / κκ, and notes the Pre-Greek suffix -εκ-; πέλεκρα (pélekra) “axe” (Hesychius) and πέλυξ (pélux) may also be Pre-Greek formations.[3][2]

It closely matches Sanskrit परशु (paraśú, “axe, battle-axe”), and an Iranian word for the axe that also passed into Tocharian A porat and Tocharian B peret; these point to a late, dialectal form Proto-Indo-European *peleḱu-.[2][1] Frisk took it as an inherited word identical with the Sanskrit one apart from the accent.[4] The old comparison with Akkadian pilakku, which made the word a Wanderwort or a Semitic loan, is given up by Beekes and Babiniotis, because the Akkadian word means “spindle”, not “axe”.[2][5][1] Babiniotis thinks the structure of the word is not Indo-European and that both the Greek and the Sanskrit word may come from an eastern language.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for an axe for felling trees, a sacrificial axe and a battle-axe; in the Iliad an unyielding heart is likened to an axe.[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The Odyssey has a two-edged bronze axe and axes used as the target of an archery contest.[6][7] Pindar has the axe with which Hephaestus split open the head of Zeus at the birth of Athena.[6][7] Herodotus uses it for battle-axes, tragedy for an axe that kills people, Anacreon for a smith's hammer.[6][7] Polybius and Plutarch use it for the axes in the fasces of Roman magistrates, Latin securis.[7][6] The “axe of Tenedos” was proverbial for harsh and summary justice.[6]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it with a change of gender.[9] Today Modern Greek πέλεκυς (pélekys) is a learned word.[10] the everyday Modern Greek πελέκι (peléki) continues the Hellenistic diminutive πελέκιον (pelékion).[10][5]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for axes for felling, sacrifice and battle.[6][7][8]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for Hephaestus' axe at the birth of Athena.[7][11]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for battle-axes.[6][11]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the axes of Roman lictors.[7][6][11]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as the learned word πέλεκυς, beside the everyday πελέκι.[10][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An axe for felling or hewing, often two-edged.[6][7]
  2. A battle-axe.[6][7]
  3. A sacrificial axe; an executioner's axe; the axe in the fasces of Roman magistrates.[6][7]
  4. A smith's hammer.[7]
  5. A coin in Cyprus; a geometric figure shaped like the head of a double axe.[6]

Word family

  • ἑξαπέλεκυς (hexapélekus)
  • πελεκάω (pelekáō)
  • πελεκίζω (pelekízō)
  • πελεκῖνος (pelekînos)
  • πελεκοφόρος (pelekophóros)
  • σφυροπέλεκυς (sphuropélekus)

Usage notes

The “axe of Tenedos” was a proverb for impartial but harsh justice, or for cutting a knot short, after the story of Tennes.[6] The ἡμιπέλεκκον (hēmipélekkon) was a single-edged axe, as opposed to the two-edged πέλεκυς.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  10. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge